Laptop display shuts off....and lost "Applications" Menu

Neil · posted: 2013-10-30 17:40

Running AntiX 13.1-base tracking Sid on a ThinkPad X40. When running on AC power, which is most of the time for me, I want the LCD to stay on continuously, but after about ten minutes the display turn off.

I've set all BIOS power settings to disabled when on AC power.
Installed XFCE4 power-manager, set to"presentation mode", and checked all settings possible to have the LCD stay on, but still shuts off after about ten minutes of inactivity.

Does fluxbox even have a screensaver function? I've looked high and low for such a setting and found none, but that's the only other thing I can think of that would be blanking my display.

Any ideas what I'm overlooking?

anticapitalista · posted: 2013-10-30 17:55

viewtopic.php?f=49&t=4506&hilit=screen%20blanking

has some suggestions with drghughes choice being the simplest.

Neil · posted: 2013-10-30 22:40

Thanks for pointing me to that thread. I actually think I saw that several days ago, and completely forgot about it. Anyway, ram Eino's code in terminal and the display didn't blank (yay!). Also, put the code in home/.fluxbox/startup and that seems to have worked too.

But, now I've developed another issue. Related? I don't know, but I seems to have lost all applications. When I bring up the fluxbox menu the"applications" menu item has no sub-menus...it seems totally empty. I tried running a few apps that I could think of (gparted, ceni) from the"run" dialog, and they won't start. I get a"no such file or directory" error.

Now what's happened? And how can I investigate the issue further?

Oh! I'm running Sid BTW, and did a dist-upgrade today...is that what broke my system?

BitJam · posted: 2013-10-31 00:24

Neil wrote:But, now I've developed another issue. Related? I don't know, but I seems to have lost all applications. When I bring up the fluxbox menu the"applications" menu item has no sub-menus...it seems totally empty. I tried running a few apps that I could think of (gparted, ceni) from the"run" dialog, and they won't start. I get a"no such file or directory" error.

Now what's happened? And how can I investigate the issue further?

Oh! I'm running Sid BTW, and did a dist-upgrade today...is that what broke my system?

I think it was the dist-upgrade that broke your system, not the screen blanking stuff. I have a couple of quick ideas but there are others here who can give you more in-depth help if these quick things don't work.

One thing you can try is in the main desktop menu go to"Fluxbox Settings" -->"Auto Update Menu" and run that. This might bring the applications menu back to life.

You can also get it it to update by logging out of Fluxbox and then logging in again. OTOH if things are really messed up then you make not be able to log in again so I suggest you refrain from logging out (if this is not difficult) until you have fixed the problem.

Next, I suggest you open up a terminal window (if you can) and try to run apps from there and see what happens. If there is little joy then run"echo $PATH" and make sure it includes /usr/bin and /usr/local/bin. If you can't even open a terminal window then use <Ctrl><Alt><F2> to switch to virtual-console-2 and log in there. GUI apps can't run from there but if you try to launch one then you should get a different error message than the one you got in the run box.

You can switch back to the GUI with <Ctrl><Alt><F7>.

Dave · posted: 2013-10-31 00:58

Neil wrote:Thanks for pointing me to that thread. I actually think I saw that several days ago, and completely forgot about it. Anyway, ram Eino's code in terminal and the display didn't blank (yay!). Also, put the code in home/.fluxbox/startup and that seems to have worked too.

But, now I've developed another issue. Related? I don't know, but I seems to have lost all applications. When I bring up the fluxbox menu the"applications" menu item has no sub-menus...it seems totally empty. I tried running a few apps that I could think of (gparted, ceni) from the"run" dialog, and they won't start. I get a"no such file or directory" error.

Now what's happened? And how can I investigate the issue further?

Oh! I'm running Sid BTW, and did a dist-upgrade today...is that what broke my system?

If you manually added the line then perhaps you have forgotten the ending"&" or more likely, accidentally edited another line.
If you have then any of the lines after the screen blanking one (probably including the menu update line) will not run till the screen blank is finished... Even though that command should run and move on. This would be the first place I would check. If you are having any concerns about the condition of the startup file you could post it here. Or remove the file, copy a fresh one from / etc/skel/.fluxbox/startup try using the add-start program.

rokytnji · posted: 2013-10-31 01:06

Here. Rename it .fluxbox and drag and drop into another rox window and let it overwrite yours. I will have some extra stuff like batti. __{{emoticon}}__

You can edit it out by hand if you so wish with a comment # in front of [exec]

Shoot my startup is gonna be different. Just grab what ya need like applications text or whatever.

Just saw your post Dave. I'll leave this here in case it's needed.

anticapitalista · posted: 2013-10-31 12:30

Open a terminal as root user and type

apt-get -f install.

What happens?

Neil · posted: 2013-10-31 22:11

BitJam wrote:I think it was the dist-upgrade that broke your system

Maybe, since I did not drop out of X this time like I usually do, but...seems to have continued working OK after the upgrade for a couple of hours until I tried to fix the screen blanking. Makes me think it was I that broke it.

BitJam wrote:go to"Fluxbox Settings" -->"Auto Update Menu" and run that.

Tried that a few times even before posting here. Didn't work.

BitJam wrote:can also get it it to update by logging out of Fluxbox and then logging in again.

Done that a few times too, still doesn't work.

BitJam wrote: open up a terminal window (if you can) and try to run apps from there and see what happens.

There is no problem opening RoxTerm or any of the other apps in the Rox Pinboard (or any other menu item besides"applications" for that matter). I have successfully run a couple of CLI apps in the terminal, and launched spacefm and Dillo from terminal. But other GUI apps I've tried won't launch (or I'm entering the wrong command).

BitJam wrote: run"echo $PATH"

You lost me here...don't understand what I'm doing. What exactly should I run in the terminal?

Dave wrote:If you manually added the line then perhaps you have forgotten the ending"&" or more likely, accidentally edited another line.

This got me a little excited...thought we had found the problem, because at first I put the code at the end of the start file, and it didn't seem to do anything, so moved it the the head of the file so it would run first, which worked, but I didn't know to put the ampersand at the end of the line. Now that I've corrected that...I still don't have any sub menu under"applications". Bummer. Also tried removing my"startup" file, and replacing it with a fresh one, logged out / back in...still no apps in the menu. Rebooted...nope, still no apps in the menu. But the screen blanks after 10 min. again, so at least I know the original startup file is running.

Maybe BitJam's first guess was right after all. Might have been the upgrade...

@anticapitalista - Here is what happens:

Code: Select all

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libavcodec53 libavformat53 libavutil51 libcdparanoia0 libdvbpsi8 libebml3
  libimobiledevice2 liblivemedia13 libmatroska5 libopenal-data libopenal1
  libusbmuxd1 libvlccore5 libx264-123 libx264-124 libx264-133
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

So I went ahead and ran"autoremove", and after it did it's thing...still no apps in the menu.

I'm just about ready to do a fresh install, that would be much quicker than trouble shooting, but I would really like to know what I did, and how I did it. Or if I didn't do it, I still want to know what happened.

Neil · posted: 2013-11-01 14:23

Thinking that something broke in fluxbox, I logged into a JWM session...and NO applications in the JWM menu either! This is not looking good. But how did this happen, I wonder?

BitJam · posted: 2013-11-01 17:31

I tried running a few apps that I could think of (gparted, ceni) from the"run" dialog, and they won't start. I get a"no such file or directory" error.

There is no problem opening RoxTerm or any of the other apps in the Rox Pinboard (or any other menu item besides"applications" for that matter). I have successfully run a couple of CLI apps in the terminal, and launched spacefm and Dillo from terminal. But other GUI apps I've tried won't launch (or I'm entering the wrong command).

What will and will not run from the CLI in RoxTerm will give us clues about what has gone wrong. The error messages (if any) could be useful. The gparted program is located at /usr/sbin/gparted so it is no surprise it will not run via"gparted" in the runbox since /usr/sbin is not on your path. Although (I hear) Debian thinks it is a security risk, you could run:

Code: Select all

PATH=$PATH:/sbin:/usr/sbin

on the command line and for the rest of that session, those directories will be on your PATH and you will be able to run command like gparted just by typing in their names:

Code: Select all

gparted

But it needs to run as root so you must:

Code: Select all

sudo gparted

The problems with the applications menus could all be attributable to a problem with Python. Try running"auto-fluxbox-menu.sh" from the command line and see what happens. When it runs normally there should be no output to the terminal screen. Then take a look in the file".fluxbox/applications". This is the file the auto-fluxbox-menu.sh program generates. Does it look like a fluxbox menu?

On a fresh antiX-13.1-base live system, after running auto-fluxbox-menu.sh I do:

Code: Select all

wc .fluxbox/applications
   89   401 7666 .fluxbox/applications

This says there are 89 lines, 401 words, and 7666 characters in the file. Even if everything is working, your numbers will be different because you've done a system-wide upgrade. If no obvious clues show up when you do the above, and if it is easy, you could try uploading the .fluxbox/application file at
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://pastebin.com/"
linktext was:"http://pastebin.com/"
====================================
and posting the link here.

Below is a list of all the apps in the antiX-13.1-base Applications menu. The name is on the left of the":" and what you type in to RoxTerm is on the right. This might help you out until we get your problem fixed. It might also be useful to help track down what is broken and what is still working. At the very least it should help with the problem of not knowing the right command to launch a program.

Code: Select all

                        ClipIt: clipit
                       Leafpad: leafpad
                      live usb: gksu antix2usb.py
         metapackage-installer: gksu install-meta
                 Root Terminal: gksu /usr/bin/x-terminal-emulator
           SpaceFM File Search: spacefm --find-files
                     Xarchiver: xarchiver
                     xmahjongg: /usr/games/xmahjongg
                 Presentations: xsw -T
                    screenshot: antixscreenshot.sh
                          Ceni: roxterm -e sudo ceni
                         Dillo: dillo
            ELinks Web Browser: roxterm -e /usr/bin/elinks
                      exoodles: roxterm -e su -c exoodles
                          gFTP: gftp-gtk
                     GNOME PPP: gnome-ppp
          GPRS-EDGE-UMTS-Panel: umts-panel
                     Iceweasel: iceweasel
           RutilT WLAN Manager: rutilt
                       wpa_gui: /usr/sbin/wpa_gui
                     Phonebook: phonebookantix.sh
        Ted rtf text processor: Ted
                       add-key: add-key
                       antiXCC: antixcc.sh
                antiX-mountbox: mountbox
                       GParted: gksu gparted
                    RemasterCC: gksu remastercc.sh
                         Geany: geany
                 GNOME MPlayer: gnome-mplayer
            GTK Youtube Viewer: gtk-youtube-viewer
                    SimpleBurn: simpleburn
                          xmms: xmms
                antiX Snapshot: gksu antixsnapshot-gui
                 Connectshares: connectshares
   Connectshares Configuration: connectshares-config
              Disconnectshares: disconnectshares
                        Grsync: /usr/bin/grsync -i
                          Htop: roxterm -e htop
            Midnight Commander: roxterm -e mc
                pc information: inxi-gui
                     ROX Filer: rox-filer
                       ROXTerm: roxterm
                       SpaceFM: spacefm
                        system: antix-system.sh
                   add-desktop: ktsuss adddesktop.sh
                       add-key: add-key
                     add-start: add-start
            Adobe Flash Player: flash-player-properties
      ADSL/PPPOE configuration: roxterm -e /usr/sbin/pppoeconf
                  advert-block: ktsuss block-advert.sh
                       antiXCC: antixcc.sh
                antiX-mountbox: mountbox
                  antixsources: gksu antixsources.sh
                        ARandR: arandr
         change-fluxmenu-theme: roxterm -e change-fluxmenu-theme.sh
              change-jwm-theme: roxterm -e change-jwm-theme.sh
       Customize Look and Feel: lxappearance
                       GParted: gksu gparted
              Group Management: gksu group-management
                      keyboard: antixcckeyboard.sh
                         mouse: antixccmouse.sh
                    RemasterCC: gksu remastercc.sh
                    slim login: gksu slim-login
                slim wallpaper: gksu antixccslim.sh
           update fluxbox menu: /usr/local/bin/auto-fluxbox-menu.sh
               update jwm menu: /usr/local/bin/auto-jwm-menu.sh
             update jwm themes: /usr/local/bin/build-jwm-themes.sh
               User Management: user-management

Neil · posted: 2013-11-01 18:00

BitJam wrote:What will and will not run from the CLI in RoxTerm will give us clues about what has gone wrong.

Thanks for that list of apps and commands! I have not tried all of them, but the 6 or 8 I did try started OK from the command line. I suspect any of them will start now that I have the correct syntax.

Here is the terminal output from running auto-fluxbox-menu.sh:

Code: Select all

$ auto-fluxbox-menu.sh
Inconsistency detected by ld.so: get-dynamic-info.h: 115: elf_get_dynamic_info: Assertion `info[20]->d_un.d_val == 17 || info[20]->d_un.d_val == 7' failed!

BitJam wrote:Then take a look in the file".fluxbox/applications".

Ah-hah! The file is empty!
Don't know if it helps, but here is what is contained in the fluxbox/apps file:

Code: Select all

[app] (name=roxterm) (class=Roxterm) (role=roxterm-18598-b3f55ef4-1)
  [Alpha]    {179 180}
[end]

Thanks for all the help so far. Feels like we're getting somewhere, and I'm learning a few things along the way.

BitJam · posted: 2013-11-01 18:20

The error message when you try to build the applications menu says that there is a problem with libraries. This almost certainly was caused by the upgrade. My guess is that some libraries got upgraded while some didn't and they don't want to play with each other. Googling that error message may bring up a solution. I got over a million hits for Google(Inconsistency detected by ld.so: get-dynamic-info.h).

My further guess is the problem is associated with what repos you have enabled. Others here know a lot more about this than I do. Maybe they can help you with the fix now that we have some idea of what is wrong.

dolphin_oracle · posted: 2013-11-01 18:29

you may want to try the dist-upgrade again. sometimes these problems crop up and there is an update pushed out pretty quickly.

Neil · posted: 2013-11-01 18:34

I have run another dist-upgrade yesterday, and again earlier today, but so far it hasn't fixed this issue.

anticapitalista · posted: 2013-11-01 18:51

Post your sources.lists